Special Clans: The Flaming Phoenix Takes Flight
by Amberleaf le Haunt
Summary: The Special Clans have lived in harmony for many moons. Warriors come and go, and life goes on as normal. However, one young apprentice is PhoenixClan is about to find out how that life is REALLY like. My first fanfic! T for room, on hiatus.:o
1. Prologue

The Special Clans: Book One: The Flaming Phoenix Takes Flight

Full Summary: The Special Clans seem to have lived in harmony for many moons. Elites and Magicals come and go without a complaint, and life goes on as normal. However, one young cat in PhoenixClan, Flamepaw, is about to find out how that life is _really_ like. A mysterious cat is about to rise to power, with a promise that will destroy most of them…. unless the legendary Flaming Phoenix takes flight.

**Hey! Welcome! This is my first fanfic! This is the prologue; I hope you like it! It's much shorter than Chapter 1, believe me! ;)**

Prologue

"What can you see, Flameflight?" the StarClan warrior asked the other one. They were looking down into the depths of a shining blue pool, which was StarClan's Looking Pool for the spirit ancestors of PhoenixClan, UnicornClan, GriffinClan and DragonClan.

"I-I-I'm not sure. The dark puff of smoke is engulfing the forest," Flameflight stuttered.

"That's what I saw, too," the black-and-white she-cat meowed to the dark ginger one.

"But what could it mean, Nightpool?" Flameflight asked.

"I have no idea," Nightpool replied. Her dark blue eyes were deep in thought, and every step, every move that she made or would soon make was always thought out with careful precision. She was very kind and gentle and had never hurt any other cat except in the rare battle; the times that she lived in the Clans being very peaceful and solitary. Each Clan had always helped the other and there seemed to be a continual truce.

"Do you think it could mean Smokeclaw?" Flameflight continued, without acknowledging Nightpool's response. "He's been very suspicious lately. Jayfeather seems to think that he's rising to power, and I must say that I agree with him." The shy and confused cat that Nightpool had seen in the start of the meeting was now no more.

"Perhaps," Nightpool agreed, looking down at the pool thoughtfully. The scene was playing again. There was the forest and the lake, just as usual, but suddenly a dark puff of smoke rushed in from the direction of PhoenixClan territory, growing bigger and bigger until the whole forest was engulfed in it. A small wisp of dark cloud rose out of the pool, dissolving in a swift cycle of condensation. Then Nightpool let out a squeak of terror, for a sharp, hot-looking orange flame was rushing in from the same way that the smoke did! It slowly crackled and spread, but it never hurt anything around it except for the smoke. _But doesn't fire endorse smoke?_ Then the vision was gone, and Nightpool was blinking awake on the edge of the pool.

Flameflight laughed above her. "I see that the great one was engulfed in the power of the vision!" she snickered. "O great warrior, what will I tell your little medicine cat friends now?"

"You wouldn't!" Nightpool gasped. This wasn't the first time she had been overtaken by a vision. A stupid little vision, intruding on her everyday life? _I should think not._ But still, she wasn't so sure. She was not that stable on her spiritual and magical power resistance side, which had made her a favourite target of one strong bullying Magical Elite tomcat, Clawpower. He had one leg missing from a fight with a badger when he was very young, and his tail was rather short, but he was so strong in his powers, that, when he unleashed them, all cats for fox-lengths around would feel the pain of stinging claws raking down their flank. Nightpool especially, for the simple reason that she couldn't stand up to it as well as the others. And one day, just a half-moon ago actually, she had died from it, and left two screeching, wriggling kits in the nursery. They had just been born the night before, and Clawpower decided to come and, as a joke, give Nightpool some of his strongest pain ever. That couldn't have been _worse_ timing, as she was still weak from her earlier birth ideal, and, as a result, couldn't take the pain and had died from it. _I hope you're happy now, Claw_pooper_,_ she thought sarcastically. Flamekit and Nightkit, as they had been cherished after she had died, Flamekit because of her bright orange fur and Nightkit because she looked _just_ like Nightpool, had been very upset and Ferncloud had had to feed them instead. That made them feel a little bit better but she still wasn't their mother, as Ferncloud had been overheard, by Flameflight, saying to the leader, Brightstar. And Nightpool had to agree with her on that one.

"Nightpool? Nightpool? Are you awake? Huh, are you there?" Flameflight was shaking her awake _again_. Her eyes were twisted in annoyance. _I must have fallen asleep in my memories._ Nightpool shook herself and said to Flameflight, "Sorry, I'm awake now. What were you saying?"

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	2. Chapter 1

**Hey, guess what, 'tis me, Amberleaf, again! The first chapter was meant to be longer, but I was getting bored of keeping WRITING IT AND WRITING IT and blah. :P **

**So, this is Chapter 1! Stay tuned for more within the next few days!! :D **

**Oh, and don't forget: REVIEW!! I only got two reviews on my other one... so review more on this one, please!! :D I turned on Anonymous Reviewing as well. ;)**

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Chapter 1

Flamekit awoke to the feeling of tiny paws pummeling her fur. She yawned and rolled over, still half-asleep, immersed in her dreams.

"Good morning, Flamekit!" Eggkit mewed brightly, staring huge orange eyes in her face.

"Eek—good morning, Eggykit," Flamekit grumbled. She rolled over again, only to find Eggkit staring in her face once again.

"Brightstar just called a Clan meeting!" Eggkit told Flamekit, shaking her lightly. "You should come."

"What's it about?" Flamekit yawned. "I'm not coming until I know," she added.

"That's just it," Eggkit agreed. "He didn't tell us. So just come anyway!"

"Okay, fine," Flamekit sighed, getting up. Was Eggkit _never_ going to stop bugging her? She reluctantly followed the tiny white kit out of the den and sat down in front of the Highrock.

"Ah, there you are, Flamekit," Brightstar called, looking down upon her with his deep orange eyes. "I thought you weren't going to join us today." The muscular leader was black with a white underbelly, chest, tail and paws, and he had deep orange eyes that seemed to glow in the sunlight. _I guess that was why they called him Brightkit as a kit, then,_ thought Flamekit.

Flamekit sat down, and, wrapping her tail around her paws, meowed, "Yes, go on."

"It has been brought to my attention that the medicine cats have had a vision," Brightstar began.

_Why of course, we know that already; the medicine cats ALWAYS have visions._ Flamekit snorted, too quiet for her leader to hear.

"Amberleaf?" Brightstar called to the medicine cat. The pretty calico she-cat stepped out into the middle of the clearing and looked around herself with bright amber eyes. The cats in the clearing were murmuring, casting suspicious glances at their Clanmates and then back at Brightstar. Then she cleared her throat meaningfully and all went silent.

"Yesterday I had a vision," she announced.

_Go on, go on,_ Flamekit thought.

"I at first saw the forest. It was beautiful and lush and green—all tales of Greenleaf, no?" She glanced at Flamekit. _What's up with that?_ the dark orange kit wondered.

"I felt like hunting when all of a sudden this dark gray smoke descended upon me," Amberleaf continued. "It was dark and black and it felt like I was suffocating. It felt as if that smoke had a lot of power over me. Then—suddenly, too—a bright orange flame rushed in from the south. It engulfed everything, preserving everything in it's path except—" Amberleaf stopped, looking warily around her "—the smoke."

"But how can that be?" called Earthfire, a brown-orange tom who could make flames shoot out of his mouth. He was a Magical Elite Special. Flamekit envied him. "Fire _endorses_ smoke, it doesn't _kill_ it!" He spoke the words with such spite that Flamekit wondered what he was implying.

"Alas, I know that too." Amberleaf dipped her head. "But the vision—it must mean a cat from our Clan."

"But maybe other medicine cats had the same vision, too? Maybe it _doesn't_ mean a cat from our Clan will destroy the Clans or save them or whatever, maybe it means from UnicornClan or something!" Flamekit called from the edges of the inside of the crowd.

Amberleaf gave her an interested look, and Flamekit had to look away. She shuffled her paws on the ground anxiously.

"Well, whatever it is, we can't spend unnecessary time waiting for it to happen today—or tomorrow, for that matter," Brightstar added, leaping down off the Highrock. "This meeting is now over." He disappeared into his den.

Flamekit was about to go back to the nursery when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Amberleaf beckoning to her with her tail. She bounded over to the calico medicine cat.

"Yes?" she asked politely, looking back at the nursery where Nightkit and Ferncloud were beckoning to her. "I don't have all day…." Suddenly realizing she had probably been "rude" to the medicine cat, she hung her head. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I didn't mean to be rude."

Amberleaf laughed in her silvery voice. "That's okay. I'm glad you noticed me, though," she went on. "I'm not going to keep you for too much longer. It's just…. well, it's just that when we were talking about the dream—er, vision, I suppose—"

"Dream, vision, no diff," Flamekit snorted, and Amberleaf let out a snicker.

"I suppose you're right," she agreed, laughing. "Well, anyway, when we were talking about the _dream_, I noticed you had some sort of knowing look. Do you know _anything_ about this at all?"

"Yes, but I noticed that you didn't say the prophecy," Flamekit interrupted. _Flame will conquer smoke once the forest is lost…._

Amberleaf suddenly looked sharp…. and interested now, too. "What prophecy?" she demanded of Flamekit.

"You should know…. the one that came with the dream?" Flamekit enquired.

Amberleaf shook her head. "No, I have not heard _anything_, of _any_ prophecy. What was it? Or rather," she quickly corrected herself, "what _is_ it?"

"Flame will conquer smoke once the forest is lost…." Flamekit murmured. Then she looked up at Amberleaf again, and, raising her voice back up to a normal level, she asked, "But what does this mean? Doesn't fire usually endorse smoke, doesn't it usually _cause_ smoke?"

"Yes," Amberleaf sighed. "But that's not what I was afraid of. Flamekit, nothing is definite yet, but…."

"Flamekit!" Ferncloud suddenly called from the nursery. "It's getting dark! Whatever Amberleaf and you are talking about; it can be discussed tomorrow!"

Flamekit turned to Amberleaf and dipped her head. "Thank you, Amberleaf, for talking to me like this, but since Ferncloud called, I really must be getting back to the nursery. Bye."

Looking a bit troubled, Amberleaf murmured in her pretty voice, "Good bye, Flamekit, and good luck…. I can tell whatever else you needed to know tomorrow."

"Well, bye then!" Flamekit called, turning abruptly on her heel, falling over, getting back up again and scampering back to the nursery.

And as she settled into Ferncloud's nest for some sleep, she thought of Amberleaf's amused yet worried face earlier that evening, Flamekit couldn't help wondering, _What was it that she wanted to tell me?_

Flamekit was sitting in a forest, an unfamiliar forest that she didn't know.

_Wait, yes, I know this place,_ she thought, disgusted with herself for forgetting. _It's the vision place._

Flamekit sat and waited. There was something to wait _for_, she just didn't know what. It was only when she saw the flash of fur up ahead that she wondered if she was in danger. She tensed as a twig cracked beneath the unknown cats' feet. _What's happening here?_ she wondered again.

Suddenly a pale blue-gray she-cat stepped out of the bushes. Her fur seemed to sparkle with stars, and her eyes withheld a wisdom that was rarely held in Clan cats, except maybe the elders.

"Bl-Bl-Bluestar!" Flamekit gasped. The she-cat shook her head, looking sad, and murmured, "No, I am Bluestar's distant cousin. My name is Riverstream, and I used to be from PhoenixClan myself."

"Then you're a legend!" Flamekit realized. Riverstream had always been a legend, supposedly saving the Clan cats from some vicious vampire cats, Souldrinkers, as they were called. Riverstream hadn't had her soul stolen, luckily, but she _had_ been killed. She had been mourned greatly by the Special Clan cats, although she insisted she was nothing special up in StarClan. And, as a result of her bravery in her final battle in front of all the Clan cats, the Souldrinkers had never bothered the Clan cats again.

Riverstream, as if hearing her thoughts, mewed sadly, "What you're thinking of…. that may actually change. The 'smoke' in the prophecy is planning to bring them back, to control them and have them kill anyone who disobeys, perhaps worse." She fell silent and, hanging her head sadly, looked down at her paws. "I don't know what to do," she whispered, then started fading away.

"No! Wait! Please, don't go!" Flamekit begged. But Riverstream said nothing, only nodded sadly and faded away until Flamekit could see the trees of the forest through her silvery form.

"No," Flamekit whimpered, feeling cold wash around her, and it _was_ cold, cold, cold, oh-so-very-cold, and then she felt herself fading away, too.

Flamekit woke up to a peaceful, bright morning. She got out of Ferncloud's nest from her place beside Nightkit, Eggkit, Littlekit and Treekit, and, padding outside, yawned. Once she was at the fresh-kill pile Flamekit allowed herself a long, luxurious _stretch!_ before grabbing something to eat.

"Hey, Flamekit." Flamekit heard a voice just behind her and reluctantly turned away from the thrush she was tearing into ravenously and looked up into the eyes of one of her best friends, Cherrypaw.

"Oh, hi, Cherrypaw," Flamekit said, waving her tail dismissively to show her calico friend she was busy. "How are you?"

"Fine. So, what are you doing?" Cherrypaw asked, eyeing Flamekit with interest.

"Not much. Just eating this thrush…. as I guess you are aware that you interrupted me from," Flamekit replied, sarcastically glaring at up her friend.

"Well, _sor-ry,_" Cherrypaw retorted with the same amount of sarcasm in her voice as Flamekit had used.

"Now leave me alone!" Flamekit decided, settling down to eat her thrush once more. _Yum,_ she thought.

Later that evening, Flamekit was laying down after a nice big meal of some mouse and some of Ferncloud's extra milk. Her tummy felt full, and she was content. She yawned and rolled over, pummeling the ground softly with her front paws.

Suddenly she found herself staring into orange eyes. Eggkit was bugging her.

"Eggkit, _stop!_" she groaned angrily, closing her eyes. But the eyes still flashed in her head, making her dizzy….

_It…. so it _isn't_ Eggkit who's staring into my face, then…._ She opened her eyes. She was staring into the eyes of a gigantic tabby cat. She could see the den walls through the pale brown tabby shape, but the eyes stared on….

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" she screeched. The pale, shadowy tom landed a sharp, unsheathed blow on her head, and everything went black.

"Will she be okay?" an urgent voice asked. A whirl of pale gray fur barreled into the den. Amberleaf sighed, and looked up from her patient to scan Ferncloud's face.

"She'll be fine, I presume" she replied calmly, "as long as you don't agitate her."

"Do you know what happened to her to make her lose so much blood?" Ferncloud fretted.

"_No._ But if you will excuse me, I must tend to my patient now." The calico medicine cat looked down at Flamekit. _Poor mite,_ she thought. _I wonder what happened to her._

"Okay…. tell me if she gets worse, okay?" Ferncloud stood up and left the den.

"Phew." Amberleaf breathed a sigh of relief. Some mothers were just so _panicky!!_ Amberleaf couldn't stand it.

"I…. oh, no…. Tiger….star…." Flamekit suddenly muttered in her sleep, and Amberleaf gasped.

_Tigerstar!_

Tigerstar, the horrible legend in all the nursery stories; the one who had been killed by Scourge in the time of the old Clans….

_What do I do?!_ Amberleaf paced around her den, thinking. _Should I try to wake Flamekit up?_ she thought, worried. _Maybe not. Who knows what it could do to her?_ But Amberleaf knew that she _had_ to do it. Or she at least had to try.

_StarClan, help me!_

**I hope you like it! Remember, READ AND REVIEW!! :P**


	3. Chapter 2

**Hello, and welcome to Chapter 2! Thanks for all of the warm reviews! :D ;) **

CHAPTER 2

Nightkit woke up, a weird, oozy feeling in her chest. She looked down at it and saw that blood was slowly oozing from her chest. She screamed, and woke up, for real this time.

"What. Just. Happened," she gasped out loud. The chest wound was gone.

"What is it?" a voice growled. Nightkit glanced up to see a dark tabby tom staring at her out of the bushes.

"What is it, slave?" the voice repeated. Suddenly, Nightkit saw something. A flash of ginger fur; the splatter of blood; a scream of pain.

_Her sister's._ Her sister…. her only sister was in pain, somewhere, where, Nightkit did not know, but she was in _pain._

Nightkit screamed, and woke up for real _this_ time.

"What is it, Nightkit?" Ferncloud asked, a bit desperately.

"What?" Nightkit raised her head, looking straight into the worried eyes of Ferncloud. "I'm fine, really. Just a bad dream, that's all."

"Are you sure it wasn't something more?" Ferncloud pestered.

"No, yes, I'm sure, mom." Nightkit recoiled inside her mind as she said the word. _Mom._ Ferncloud wasn't her mother, and never would be. "Now go back to sleep." Nightkit curled up and closed her eyes again, but the screaming wouldn't stop inside her ears.

***

Nightkit awoke disheveled and un-rested.

"Ugh. I didn't get to sleep last night. At least, barely," she mumbled to herself.

"What are you talking about?" Eggkit was looking at her, curious.

"Nothing that you need to know—oof," Nightkit panted as Eggkit jumped on her. "Get off."

"But I want to pla-ay!" Eggkit whined.

"Maybe later. Now go away," Nightkit ordered. Reluctantly and _slowly_, Eggkit jumped off her back and slowly padded sadly out of the nursery.

"Pttff," Nightkit scoffed. "I bet she was just faking that. She _loves_ to be annoying."

"You know, I agree." Nightkit whipped around. Treekit, a white tom with brown paws and golden brown stripes, and one of Maplefur's litter, was staring at her with curiosity in his amber eyes.

"You do?" Nightkit was surprised, but she couldn't help feeling flattered by Treekit's sudden show of kindness.

"Yes. She wakes me up every morning with her instinct to play, then we play 'til sunrise, and then she forgets all about me and does something else, and then it's too late to go back to bed because then Maplefur covers up the nest for the day…." Treekit looked down at his little brown paws sadly. "And now _I_ have lack of _sleep_," he whispered.

"I'm sorry; that's so terrible," Nightkit mewed sadly. Inside her head, she was yowling, _Stupid Eggkit! _Stupid Eggkit!_ Why does she have to _be_ this way?_ But Nightkit knew the answer. She was an energetic, yet ambitious kit who was cute enough to get away with whatever she wants. _Well, it's not going to work on me! At least, not yet,_ Nightkit added to herself mentally, in her head.

"Hey." Applekit's soft voice interrupted her thoughts. "Do you want to go see the elders?"

"Sure," Nightkit replied, after jumping a little. Applekit _had_ startled her!

"Then let's go!" Applekit jumped to her paws, and started running in the direction of the old cats' den. "You get them some mice, okay?!" she called over her shoulder.

"Sure!" Nightkit called back, dashing towards the fresh-kill pile and grabbing two mice and a sparrow. Whitepaw, the handicapped apprentice with a crushed foreleg, liked mice, while meanwhile the small sisters Spottedleaf and Grassstripe liked to share a sparrow, and still, on top of all that, the lazy elder Longclaw would want a mouse. Grabbing the prey carefully in her teeth, Nightkit ran off to join her friend.

Barreling into the elders' den, Nightkit bumped right into Applekit.

"Sorry!" she gasped. "I didn't see you there—"

"It's okay," Applekit interrupted her quietly. "I'm not hurt."

Nightkit took that as a sign it was okay and walked up to Whitepaw.

"How are you feeling?" she asked sympathetically. Two moons ago, Whitepaw had been in a Thunderpath accident, crushing her leg, and just a quarter-moon ago, actually, Amberleaf, the medicine cat, had announced that Whitepaw could never be a warrior. The apprentice was devastated, but she understood what Amberleaf was trying to say. Her leg couldn't be healed, so therefore, she couldn't be a warrior.

"I'm fine." Whitepaw looked down at her small white paws, pretty in contrast to her dark gray body. She sighed. "I wish I could be a _warrior_."

"I know," Nightkit agreed. "I would be devastated." She watched as Whitepaw tore into the mouse.

"You're welcome," she muttered before turning to Spottedleaf and Grassstripe. The two pretty tortoiseshells were sitting, waiting for her, looks of expectation glued on their faces.

"Good afternoon, Spottedleaf, Grassstripe," she said, nodding to each of them. She handed them the plump sparrow.

"Thank you," they chorused in their prettily soft musical voices. Spottedleaf bent down, biting daintily into the mouse, while Grassstripe gave Nightkit a lick between the ears.

"Thank you," she murmured. "This was thoughtful."

"It was nothing," Nightkit answered, embarrassed. "I hoped you're happy…. I'm _glad_ you're happy, in fact." She smiled at the crinkly old elder.

"I am," Grassstripe agreed, and bent down to the mouse to knock Spottedleaf out of the way so that she could have her share. "Hey! I'm hungry too, you know!" she complained.

Nightkit smiled and shook her head. _Elders,_ she thought. "I have to go soon…." Nightkit decided suddenly. "Um…. is it okay if I just leave you here?" She smiled wanly at Applekit, and her friend nodded. "See you later, I guess," Nightkit said, and swept out the elders' den entrance.

Outside, she shivered. _It's cold!_ She wished that it wasn't leaf-bare. _I wonder what my sister is thinking._ She sighed. Flamekit was probably in the Dark Forest. Was it cold there, and dark? Was her sister being tortured and sick? _I hope not._ That was the _last_ thing that PhoenixClan needed right now. _A sick, injured, tortured kit whose soul is in the Dark Forest. That's great. _Just…._ great._

Nightkit sighed, and continued on toward the nursery. Then she turned around. _Hey, why not the medicine cat den?_ she thought. _Amberleaf might need my help there._ She had _never _told anyone, but she had wanted to be a medicine cat all her life. One of the other kits had teased her about it, but that kitten had always wanted to be a warrior. _So I have a different dream than them. What's so wrong about that?_ Nightkit wondered. _Oh well. Doesn't matter now, I guess._

Nightkit suddenly stopped and realized something. _She was just sitting in the newly-falling snow and getting _cold_ and _wet! That wasn't good. She quickly scampered back into the nursery, which was nice and warm-feeling after all that snow. She turned around and settled herself just by the entrance, looking out and watching the snow falling, _falling…._

"What are you doing?"

_Oh, no…._ Nightkit groaned. It was Eggkit again!

"Oh, nothing, really; just watching the snow," Nightkit replied stiffly.

"Cool! Can I watch with you?" the excited kit begged.

"Sure. Then _be quiet,_" Nightkit told her firmly.

"Sure!" Eggkit nearly yowled. Nightkit hissed and covered her ears with her paws.

"I told you, _not so loud_!!! Don't you ever _listen_?" she demanded loudly of Eggkit.

"Um…. yes," Eggkit said. Now she just looked confused. "I _do_ listen. But I'm loud. But does anyone care? NO. It's all, 'Oh, Eggkit this,' and 'Oh, Eggkit, you're too _loud.'_" She imitated the funny voice of an adult cat perfectly. Nightkit couldn't help but smile. "I hate it. _I hate it._ _I HATE IT!!!_ Nobody ever understands me," Eggkit suddenly said silently, as though she sensed that she had said something _very_ personal.

"It's okay, you can—" Nightkit began when, all of a sudden, there came a shout.

"ROGUE ATTACK!!!"

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End file.
